The importance of friendships, the unnerving awkwardness of judging and being judged, the anxiety of the over-inflated importance of competition, and the overall agony of growing up are all themes that are comically explored. These themes have been explored before, of course, mainly in film. Here are the top five films dealing with the unnerving awkwardness of prepubescent angst.

1. The Bad News Bears (1975) A down on his luck, lazy, former minor

league ballplayer, Morris Buttermaker, is forced to coach a band of

misfit kids in an ultra-competitive little league baseball tournament.

The Bears squad is made up of kids who are outsiders, are void of any

baseball talent, and weren't good enough to earn spots on the other

teams. But the foul-mouthed motley crew makes it all the way to the

championship game anyway, and come within a run of beating their

archrival, the conceited Yankees. Then, because they're fun and not smug

little assholes like the Yankees, the Bears celebrate by spraying

Buttermaker's beer all over themselves and telling the Yankees to shove

their giant first place trophy up their ass.

2. Stand By Me (1986)Four young boys set off for an adventure go see a

dead body. At its heart, Stand By Me is about the waning years of our

childhood, when Pez candy was considered food and we could argue who

would win a fight between Superman and Mighty Mouse. It also shines a

light on a boy's most important years, when friendships meant

everything, and insulting each other's mother was a right of passage.

With the onset of puberty and junior high school and responsibility

looming, a camping trip to go see a corpse really isn't such a bad idea.

3. The Sandlot (1993)The new kid on the block wants to learn how to

play baseball, and joins the neighborhood kids on their sandlot. But,

because he's not very good, and because kids are mean, vindictive little

pricks, the boy is embarrassed. But the boy is befriended by the most

talented ballplayer in the hood, and is welcomed into the pack. There's

the requisite rival gang, a kind-of-a-dick stepdad, and a mean dog that

eats baseballs. Also, the talented ballplayer grows up to be a star

major leaguer. Hooray for impossible happy endings!

4. Little Miss Sunshine (2006)A dysfunctional family dedicates itself

to getting little Olive to California so she can compete in the Little

Miss Sunshine beauty pageant. Olive's father is a failed motivational

speaker and her mother is a chain smoker, who feeds her family KFC for

dinner every night. Her older brother has taken a vow of silence, her

uncle is gay and suicidal, and her granddad is a drug addict. In the end,

however, the family comes together while Olive puts on a

burlesque-style dance to the Rick James hit "Super Freak," much to the

shock of the pretentious audience members and pageant organizers. Olive

is not prim or prissy. She isn't forced to starve herself and she

doesn't put on more makeup than a Bourbon Street hooker, like the other

little girls in the pageant. She's comfortable in her own skin. And

instead of removing Olive from the stage, as the horrified organizers

insist they do, her family joins her on stage to dance with her. Suck on

that, you ostentatious jerks!

5. The Goonies (1985)With their parents facing foreclosure thanks to

the Astoria Country Club (stupid rich people), a group of kids living in

Astoria, Oregon, stumble across an old treasure map while rummaging

through one of their parents' attic. A wild adventure ensues, along with